SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE MONTHLY AVERAGE 



AND ANOMALY CHARTS 

 EASTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN, 1947-58 



by 



James A. Renner 



Fishery Research Biologist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



San Diego, California 



ABSTRACT 



Sea temperature data in the area bounded by the west coast of the Americas to 

 longitude 120° W. and latitude 30° N. to 20° S. and temperature data at three coastal 

 stations in South America are presented in two parts. Part I consists of 12 monthly 

 average charts based on data from 1947 through 1958, and Part II consists of 144 

 monthly anomaly charts derived from the average charts. 



INTRODUCTION 



As a byproduct of environmental studies of 

 the temperate tunas of the Pacific Ocean, 

 Johnson (1961) has published sea surface 

 temperature monthly average and anomaly 

 charts for the northeastern Pacific covering 

 the period 1947-58. The charts presented here 

 are a continuation of sea temperature studies 

 for the same years in the eastern tropical 

 Pacific Ocean. They were prepared for two 

 purposes. The first was to provide information 

 for investigating possible relationships between 

 anomalous sea surface temperatures and vari- 

 ations in the distribution and availability of 

 the tropical tunas. The second was to produce 

 the 12-year monthly average charts to be used 

 as a base upon which to construct current sea 

 temperature anomaly charts. These appear 

 monthly in the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 publication, California Fishery Market News 

 Monthly Summary, Part II - Fishing Information. 

 Since January 1960 temperature anomalies 

 from the long-term mean for the temperate 

 Pacific have been presented monthly in this 

 publication, but, heretofore, no satisfactory 



mean has been available for construction of 

 similar charts for the tropical Pacific. 



DATA SOURCE AND TREATMENT 



The oceanic temperature data presented are 

 injection temperatures 1 taken by merchant 

 and naval ships cooperating with the U. S. 

 Weather Bureau. These data were made avail- 

 able by the Laboratory Director, Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory, 

 Stanford, Calif. Scientists at that laboratory 

 have obtained historical records of sea tem- 

 peratures and other marine meteorological 

 observations from the National Weather Rec- 

 ords Center, Asheville, N. C, to assist them 

 in their oceanographic studies of the Pacific 

 Ocean. 



The probability that injection temperatures 

 are subject to errors was discussed by 



'injection temperatures areobtained from a thermom- 

 eter installed in the sea water intake system used for 

 cooling the ship's engines. 



